Heart of Darkness: A Racist Text?

by

Christina König

CONTENTS

0. Introduction 2

I. Africa as the “Antithesis of Europe” 2

I.1 Conrad’s Personal View Reflected in His Narration  3
I.2 The Black’s Role in the Novel as a Further Proof for Conrad’s Racism 4
I.3 Becoming Insane = Going Native  4

II. Profound Proofs of Conrad’s Innocence  5

II.1 Critique of Imperialism: A Subversion of the Dichotomies  5
II.2 Marlow is not Conrad  7
II.3 The Content of the Novel: A Journey Through the Congo 8
II.4 A Victorian Novel Vs. A Modern “Reverse Missionary” Novel 9

III. Conclusion  10

IV. Bibliography  12

0 Introduction

The following essay will deal with the question whether or not Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness is a racist text. This question comes up because this novel was written during the age of Victoria, a time of imperialism and colonialism where the term “race” changed its meaning and became a monolithic factor. 

The term ‘race’ was first used in English literature as denoting a class of people, even a family. In eighteen-century usage it was possible to speak of a race of animals or birds. By the nineteenth century this imprecision was fully recognized, and it was suggested that the term was purely subjective, and illuminated the ‘opinion of the investigator rather than … the object of investigation.’ (¹Bolt: 1971, ix). 

So from then on, racism, which can be defined as “ the belief that races have distinctive cul- tural characteristics determined by hereditary factors and that this endows some races with an intrinsic superiority over others” (²Wehmeier:2000,1042) was often included or propagated in literary works.

As Conrad was a member of the Victorian society it is interesting for today’s readers to examine if he also shared this belief. Furthermore, it has recently (i.e. within the last twentyfive years) been a frequently-discussed topic, because Chinua Achebe, the famous Nigerian author, arose this question. So, first of all, his accusations will be looked at more clearly, in the following, it is to be regarded if these are actually true, and finally, one will see, if a final estimation is possible.

I Africa as the “Antithesis of Europe”

In the opinion of the Victorian explorer Sir Richard Burton, 

‘ignorance, not knowledge, sentimentality not sense, sway the public mind’ on racial questions. But the testimony of the ignorant may be the most typical, may tell us a great deal about Victorian, if not primitive, society. British attitudes and responses to colonial [and American] developments, in fact, have a logic of their own, and, however inaccurate and biased it may have been public opinion frequently public policy or resulted in some sort of practical activity in the area concerned. (³Bolt: 1971,xi) 

According to some people, among them the famous Nigerian author Chinua Achebe, these attitudes containing “a logic of their own” - often referred to as binary thinking - are also found in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness; i.e. they claim that Conrad creates a picture of Africa as the “antithesis of Europe” (⁴Achebe: 1988, 252) . Consequently, the dichotomy in the area of ethics – good and bad, of aesthetics – beautiful and ugly, of logic – right and wrong, and of culture – civilized and uncivilized is said to be well elaborated: Heart of Darkness as a novel about a Western “civilisation mission” in the “dark” jungle of Africa where all those prejudices are confirmed; therefore he is accused of racism.

I.1 Conrad’s Personal View Reflected in His Narration

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1 Christine Bolt, Victorian Attitudes to Race (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1971) ix.

2 Sally Wehmeier (ed.) Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English,6th ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000) 1042.

3 Christine Bolt, Victorian Attitudes to Race (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1971) xi.

4 Chinua Achebe, “An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness,” Robert Kimbrough, ed. in Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness: An Authoritative Text, Backgrounds and Sources, Criticism (New York: Norton, 1988) 252.